#candlekeep

“Reevor has once again pressed me into service in his storehouse. All reports has suggested that our feline forces have turned traitor and that the rats are on the offensive. it appears that I am our last Hope in the face of such an awesome display of power. Farewell, dear journal… farewell”

The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces

"This book is called The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces," he explained. "I had some ideas for the tower, but this is a subject with which I am unfortunately unfamiliar beyond the basics. I never really had a need for extra space living on my own, but now—" He paused, with the slight self-consciousness of a man still adjusting to the particular happiness of now. "Well. I thought it might be nice for us to have a little courtyard, which the architecture of the tower quite obviously doesn't support. And perhaps a new music room for you, where you wouldn't be bothered by the sounds of the tower. One with a spot for me, of course, so I may watch you when you invite me." He smiled with the boyish delight that appeared whenever a new idea genuinely seized him. "I have other ideas too, but I thought I’d better learn how much I can feasibly accomplish before I go setting myself up with projects for the next year or ten."

Alyss echoed his smile back at him, delighted by his delight. "What wonderful ideas. I'm sure you can do any of them you set your mind to, but perhaps start with just the two? I'm not sure I can keep track of too many little pockets in our tower, and I don't want your next adventure to be rescuing your lost wife from an interdimensional labyrinth."

"Nor I,” Gale said. "I've only just convinced you to marry me. It would be highly irresponsible and more than a little devastating to lose you now. Perhaps I should also research navigational devices and recall spells. Oh!" He caught himself. "But before I grow too distracted by my own plans, see here."

He drew her attention to the margins of the page, where someone had written in a dense, cramped hand quite different from the main text. The symbols and abbreviations were layered so tightly together that at first glance they looked almost decorative.

"The main text is interesting enough," he said. "It’s a thorough treatment of extradimensional spaces, how they're constructed, how they're sustained, and the theoretical underpinnings of the Magnificent Mansion spell in particular. Worthy scholarship." He tapped the margin. "But this is something else entirely."

He turned back several pages to show her the pattern of it. The marginal notes appeared at irregular intervals, sometimes a single line, sometimes a dense cluster that nearly overwrote the original text.

"It's arcane shorthand. A personal notation system, by the look of it. Scholars develop them sometimes when they're working quickly and don't want to be understood at a glance. This one seems to be part cipher, part abbreviation, and part personal vocabulary. Whoever wrote this was working fast and thinking faster." He pointed to a recurring symbol, a small looping mark that appeared at the start of each cluster of notes. "This appears to be a kind of anchor point. The same symbol begins each new entry. And here—" he moved his finger to a series of tightly packed characters "—I can make out what I believe are spatial coordinates of some kind. But the rest of it..." He sat back. "The rest requires a second pair of eyes and, I suspect, considerably more patience than I am currently capable of mustering alone." He tilted his head, resting it against hers.

"You have a musician's eye for pattern," he said. "And you definitely have more patience than me. Will you help me work through it?"

Here's a WIP excerpt from the upcoming chapter of 'Never Be Mine'

No one messes with the most influential woman on the Sword Coast.

Thank you for the tags @bladesingerlily, @nw39 @emmy-and-the-tieflings

I’m not great at drawing but this is my OTP, I call them BloodyBoobs. Mimi is my bimbo vampire Bard Barbarian I’ve been playing in a candlekeep mysteries campaign for the last few years, I’m making her my first durge run. I’ve shipped her with Astarion since the game released so I had to draw them🥰 If anyone has any tips on how to make a tall character hunch over I’d appreciate it, Homegirl is 7’0 and difficult to draw next to Astarion at 5’9😭